Vehicle suspension systems and the like are designed to enhance the performance of modern vehicles, while maintaining a comfortable ride for passengers. Obviously, this performance-enhancement aspect is most important in racing applications, for example, while this comfort-maintenance aspect is most important in everyday applications, for example. These vehicle suspension systems constrain the position and orientation of a tire relative to a road surface. The maximum force that the tire can generate in a desired direction of travel is greatly influenced by the camber of the tire. Camber is the lean angle of the tire relative to the road surface, with the tire being perpendicular to the road surface under zero camber conditions. In general, the tire can generate the most straight-line acceleration and braking force under zero camber conditions, but can generate the most turning or cornering force with some amount of camber gain—the tire essentially “leaning into” the turn or corner. By maintaining zero camber conditions while traveling straight and leaning the tire into turns or corners, tire grip can be maximized and tire wear can be minimized.
Nearly all of the vehicle suspension systems currently available and used provide misapplied, insufficient, or no camber gain while turning or cornering. As a result, the tire rolls relative to the road surface—in the same direction that the vehicle rolls. This provides non-optimal camber for optimal tire grip. In addition, the majority of vehicle suspension systems currently available and used experience “bump camber.” Bump camber is a condition wherein the camber gain provided to compensate for vehicle roll, when provided, also results in the tire cambering during purely vertical motion of the vehicle, such as when the vehicle goes over a bump. Previous attempts to address these camber gain “issues” have typically involved the use of active devices, adding energy to the vehicle suspension systems via actuators and the like. Such vehicle suspensions systems are inherently complex and expensive.
Thus, what is needed in the art is a vehicle suspension system that passively provides optimal camber gain when a vehicle turns or corners—this camber gain being opposite in direction to the vehicle roll. What is also needed in the art is a vehicle suspension system that avoids the related bump camber problem. Ideally, this passive vehicle suspension system providing optimal camber gain and avoiding the bump camber problem would be relatively simple and inexpensive, making it suitable for both racing and everyday applications.